Rock Town Hall, I asked you if you wanted a repeat of Hear Factor, the bold experiment in which Townspeople prepared mix CDs of challenging music they liked for me to distribute to other Townspeople who might feel especially challenged by each mix CD. Each Townsperson swore to listen to nothing but that CD for the next 3 days. They then reported their experiences to the Hall, at which time fellow Townspeople chimed in with their thoughts on the mix. It was pretty great, wasn’t it?
As I said, I asked if you wanted a repeat, and there was resounding YES! followed by prompt submission of a second round of challenging mix CDs. You guys were aces; I fell down on the job! The CDs hit just as I entered a pretty hellish stretch in work. I was traveling a lot and didn’t get to the post office in a timely fashion to distribute the CDs. Then I didn’t get there at all and started hearing from a few of you, you know, like getting shit. I deserved it, but I still held out on doing what I’d suggested we do once again. Sad.
Now a lot of time has passed. Some of you are probably in a different place. Rather than me trying to sort out the distribution process after all this time, it’s time I make the best of a no-win situation, cut my losses, and use the power of the World Wide Web to share the mixes for all of us to download and discuss in real time!
Beginning later this week, the first Hear Factor, deux mix will be posted. If you’ve got the stones, you will download the .zip file and spend the next 3 days of your life listening to nothing but that mix. Your thoughts on these sounds can be posted. Discussion should ensue. This is not a spectator sport! By the end of the summer, those with the requisite stones will have lived with a baker’s dozen of potentially challenging mixes. And most likely I will still be getting shit from you.
In honor of hvb I’m going to call this experiment Hear Factor Mach II.
Might I suggest you call out the RTH Member to whom the Hear Factor disc would have been directed? “I summon so-and-so to listen to this disc artfully designed to offend his sensibilities.”
That’s a good idea, Geo, but that won’t excuse the rest of you from downloading, living with, and discussing each mix.
BUT…here’s the catch with this year’s Hear Factor submissions: because some of them were not as carefully crafted to challenge more than a handful of listener, I reserve the right to SUMMON a Townsperson who did not submit a package of his or her own!
I’m confused.
No need for confusion, just download, spin, and comment. All the kids are doing it!
Peer pressure(r).